In this episode Claire is joined by QUT's Dr Natasha Arthars to discuss her recent research on VET in Schools enrolments and the questions that arise for students labour market prospects and future study pathways. Dr Arthar's research paper can be accessed at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1360080X.2025.2478962 The OECD research Claire mentions on high school students' career aspirations is available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/the-state-of-global-teenage-career-prepa...
Jul 01, 2025•29 min•Ep. 134
In this episode Claire unpacks some of the changes happening in the tertiary sector as both regulators (ASQA and TEQSA) start thinking about how AI is changing the world of work and what that means for what providers teach. Claire references the following reports, frameworks and research in the episode: NSW Audit Office (2025) Universities 2024 https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/universities-2024 TEQSA GenAI toolkit: https://www.teqsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-11/Gen-AI-strategi...
Jun 08, 2025•32 min•Ep. 133
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by the Vice Chancellor of Charles Sturt University, Prof. Renée Leon to discuss why funding for universities, and not institutional governance, is the biggest issue facing the sector. Prof. Leon also points out the substantial challenges facing regional universities and their students - who are often first-in-family, low SES, mature age and First Nations students needing much greater support to succeed. Prof. Leon also shares why she's so pleased M...
May 23, 2025•32 min•Ep. 132
In this episode of the podcast Claire speaks with Emeritus Prof. Erica Smith on the state of apprenticeships in Australia and how a raft of recent reforms are privileging traditional male trades over apprenticeships/traineeships in feminised industries. Claire and Erica discuss the recent Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System and the government's interim response to the review . Erica has appeared on the podcast previously ( episode 68 ) with Prof. Andrew Norton. In ...
Apr 30, 2025•25 min•Ep. 131
In this episode Claire gives a summary of the submissions to the Senate Committee's inquiry into the Quality of governance at Australian higher education providers. During the episode Claire references her interview in episode 123 with NTEU representatives Emily Foley and Tony Williams about their experiences working as casual academics in Australian universities. The submissions to the Senate Committee's inquiry can all be read and downloaded from the inquiry webpage: https://www.aph.gov.au/Par...
Apr 27, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 130
In this episode Claire speaks with Adam Kilburn, CEO of NEAS Australia. They discuss: NEAS' 2025 conference: https://neas.org.au/conference-25/ The ASEAN Australia Education Dialogue: https://www.aseanaustraliadialogue.com/aaed-2024 Claire's initial analysis of the Coalition's proposed international student caps: https://clairefield.com.au/unpacking-the-coalitions-plans-for-international-education/ Further analysis by Claire of the proposed caps - in The Koala News: https://thekoalanews.com/gett...
Apr 14, 2025•27 min•Ep. 129
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Jobs and Skills Australia's Deputy Commissioners, Trevor Gauld and Megan Lilly. There are references throughout their conversation to a number of JSA reports and data available on the JSA website. If you don't already visit the site regularly then these links may be useful to you: Monthly labour market data at the regional level: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/employment-region-dashboards-and-profiles GenAI Capacity Study (and opportunity...
Apr 02, 2025•36 min•Ep. 128
In this episode of the podcast, Claire is joined by RMIT University's Deputy Vice Chancellor Vocational Education and Vice President, Mish Eastman. Mish explains how the university's College of Vocational Education is partnering with Australian and international businesses and governments to deliver impact for learners. During the episode Mish references: RMIT's new 'Earn and Learn' model: https://www.rmit.edu.au/partner/recruit-students-and-graduates/earn-and-learn The new model was written up ...
Mar 26, 2025•36 min•Ep. 127
In this episode Claire is joined by the Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University, Prof. George Williams. Prof. Williams' Meanjin article is available at: https://meanjin.com.au/essays/a-university-not-a-corporation/ And you can email [email protected] if you're interested in a one month free trial of Claire's regular analysis and updates on the tertiary sector. Contact Claire: Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social Check out the news p...
Mar 12, 2025•29 min•Ep. 126
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by researcher and educational designer Dr Selena Chan from Ara Institute of Technology. She explains the incredible work being done in New Zealand to help their VET (and higher education) sectors grapple with GenAI. If you don't regularly attend the annual AVETRA Conference - then you're missing out on hearing from great researchers like Dr Chan. Details on this year's conference are at: https://avetra.org.au/conference2025 The following resources ...
Feb 16, 2025•34 min•Ep. 125
In this episode of the podcast Dr Rocco Guarnaccia joins Claire to discuss his research on commercial, for-profit, providers. He shares his insights into which RTOs are likely to thrive and which will struggle as the sector continues to change. Rocco's thesis is available at: https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/5de8508e-cc37-49f3-ace6-dcd7e8512dd5 The government media release on 'ghost colleges'/lapsed providers: https://ministers.dewr.gov.au/giles/over-150-ghost-colleges-axed Claire's a...
Jan 22, 2025•29 min•Ep. 124
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by two casual academics, Emily Foley and Tony Williams, who also hold positions at the National Tertiary Education Union. Emily and Tony share their personal experiences and those of others in the sector and what the highly casualised, precarious nature of their employment means. The articles and reports mentioned in the podcast are listed below - but before you get to them, here's another one that takes a very different approach: Prof. George Will...
Dec 20, 2024•48 min•Ep. 123
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Prof Himashu Rai from the Indian Institute of Management Indore. What IIM Indore is doing to educate the next generation of Indian business leaders and engineers has to be heard to be believed. If you want to know more about IIM Indore - their website is: https://iimidr.ac.in/ and you can find Prof. Rai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/askhimanshurai/ Contact Claire: Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field Follow me on Bluesky: @claire...
Dec 12, 2024•35 min•Ep. 122
In this special episode of the podcast, Claire is joined by Dirk Mulder, founder and CEO of The Koala News and Tracy Harris, Principal, Tracy Harris Solutions to discuss where the international education sector stands now that the government's legislative changes to amend the ESOS Act look unlikely to be passed by the Senate. The podcast is the audio recording of a webinar Claire, Dirk and Tracy hosted. If you want to watch the video instead you'll find it at: https://clairefield.com.au/internat...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 121
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Chemène Sinson and Maria Langwell to discuss the Revised Standards and why it's important that the Standards should still include a definition of 'competency', why there is a need for proper education and support for RTOs during this transition, and how training providers can map their existing practices to the new Standards. If you haven't seen the Revised Standards yet - they're still technically in draft form until they are legislated - but t...
Nov 17, 2024•45 min•Ep. 120
On this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by two VET leaders helping shape VET's response to changes in the way work is done in the construction industry: Jason Jennings from the ACT's Construction Industry Training Council and Eve Price from ConCOVE (New Zealand's Construction & Infrastructure Centre of Vocational Excellence). You can find out more about ConCOVE at: https://concove.ac.nz and about CITC at: https://www.citc.org.au And if you're interested in AI and its impact on teachi...
Nov 03, 2024•37 min•Ep. 119
In this episode Claire steps through the following changes the Australian government is looking to make to international education: through the Education Services for Overseas Students Amendment Bill - which aims to improve transparency in relation to education agents, to limit new international education providers and their activities, and to cap international student enrolments Claire's analysis of what the student enrolment caps will mean for different providers - which she has also written a...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 118
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by the President of the Digital Education Council, Danny Bielik to discuss the work of the Council and how education is changing and what that means for institutions. During their conversation they discuss: a recent global survey conducted by the Council on students' views and use of AI in education: https://www.digitaleducationcouncil.com/post/digital-education-council-global-ai-student-survey-2024 the work of the government of Singapore in keepin...
Sep 17, 2024•29 min•Ep. 117
In this episode, Claire speaks with Michael Fay OAM, Director and Head of Education Services at AFG Venture Group and Special Advisor to the Executive Director of the ASEAN Universities Network. Michael shares his deep experience and insights on Australia's universities' (and VET providers') engagement in Southeast Asia and with ASEAN - and talks about the upcoming ASEAN Australia Education Dialogue being held later this year. In her introduction Claire recognises the efforts of Austrade to sens...
Sep 03, 2024•35 min
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Kane Murdoch, Macquarie University's Head of Conduct, Appeals and Misconduct to discuss issues related to academic integrity - especially since the advent of Generative AI. Kane mentions the following articles in the interview: Educational integrity enforcement pyramid with Cath Ellis: Ellis, C., & Murdoch, K. (2024). The educational integrity enforcement pyramid: a new framework for challenging and responding to student cheating. Assessment...
Aug 13, 2024•30 min•Ep. 115
In this episode of the podcast Claire was joined by Amit Sevak, the CEO of Educational Testing Service (ETS), to discuss the role ETS plays in international education and what they are seeing as countries like Australia move to restrict international student numbers. Amit also shares his insights into some of the key takeaways from ETS' 2024 Human Progress Report - a global survey of attitudes to learning (including views on upskilling and reskilling and the growing 'fear of becoming obsolete' (...
Jul 23, 2024•24 min•Ep. 114
In this episode Claire shares what she learned from two of the presenters at the HolonIQ 2024 "Future of Higher Education & Workforce" Summit . Prof. Rose Luckin and Dr Victoria Galan-Muros are respectively experts in AI in education and on microcredentials in higher education. The insights they shared left Claire (and other Summit attendees) with a lot to contemplate. The website for Prof. Luckin's EDUCATE Ventures Research is: https://www.educateventures.com/ UNESCO's Institute for Higher ...
Jul 01, 2024•35 min
In this episode Claire is joined by the CEO and Managing Director of Studiosity, Mike Larsen, to discuss their latest research on student wellbeing. The research report can be downloaded from Studiosity's website: https://www.studiosity.com/au-student-wellbeing-2024 Contact Claire: Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field Follow me on Bluesky: @clairefield.bsky.social Check out the news pages on my website: clairefield.com.au Email me at: [email protected] The ‘What now? What next?’ podc...
Jun 14, 2024•25 min•Ep. 112
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Peter Mackey, Executive Director of Skills and Industry Capacity, Western Parklands City Authority, NSW Department of Planning to discuss a new model of skills development delivering real results in Western Sydney. Crucially, as the world of work changes fast and both higher education and VET providers (and the respective VET and higher education systems) struggle to adapt and respond to the pace of change - this model allows providers to start ...
May 29, 2024•33 min•Ep. 111
In this episode of the podcast, Claire unpacks the recommendations in the Final Report of the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training’s Inquiry into the Perceptions and Status of VET. The 2023 report showing how GenAI is impacting so many of the job roles (and hence Training Packages) in Business, ICT and Finance was published by Future Skills Organisation and be downloaded from their website . Contact Claire: Connect with me on LinkedIn: Claire Field F...
Apr 25, 2024•39 min•Ep. 110
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Timmy Theopelus, Vice President Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Axioo - part of the Indonesian technology company PT Tera Data Indonusa. Timmy explains why PT Tera Data developed the Axioo Class program which now operates in almost 1,000 vocational colleges in Indonesia and why the program has been recognised by the International Labour Organisation for its effectiveness. As Australia considers how to keep Training Packages cu...
Apr 08, 2024•29 min•Ep. 109
In this episode Claire unpacks the recommendations of the Universities Accord Panel and the response of the key stakeholders in the sector. In doing so she references the following: The Universities Accord Panel final report: https://www.education.gov.au/australian-universities-accord/resources/final-report My analysis of the challenges in implementing some of the Panel's recommendations: https://clairefield.com.au/government-faces-challenges-with-the-accord-panels-report/ My analysis of the cha...
Mar 14, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 108
In this episode of the podcast Claire is joined by Jennie Tax, Executive Director – Education at Experience Gold Coast. Jennine shares details of the really impressive work being done by Experience Gold Coast to support all tertiary students studying on the Gold Coast including their unique Kickstart Graduate Program. Find out more about Experience Gold Coast at: https://experiencegoldcoast.au Also find out more about the latest student visa application data in this recent article from The Koala...
Mar 04, 2024•23 min•Ep. 107
In this episode of the podcast, Claire was joined by Jeffrey Lehrer, National Compliance Manager at The Scout Association of Australia's RTO. He outlines why Scouts have an RTO and how both adult volunteers and young scouts benefit - as well as discussing the work being done (in Australia and internationally) to better recognise non-formal learning. For international listeners interested in non-formal learning and/or the Scouts movement - there are a few Australian acronyms/terms used in this ep...
Feb 22, 2024•27 min•Ep. 106
In this episode Claire speaks with Russ Hawkins, CEO of Community Colleges Australia, about a range of VET issues. Find out more about what Russ and Claire discussed: Community Colleges Australia: https://cca.edu.au 2023 CCA conference: https://cca.edu.au/what-we-do/2023-cca-annual-conference/ House of Representatives Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Workforce_Australia_Employment_Services Contact Claire: ...
Jan 28, 2024•33 min•Ep. 105
